Receptive language assessment-need help please!

[mishymashy]

Hi, Ds aged 3.3 has just had his formal assessment for his receptive language as we have huge problems at home with his understanding, his results came in at 11th percentile. S&LT has said that these were very good results and if we can get him to the 16th she will be able to sign him off as within normal range. I'm very confused as i have a ds who cant answer questions like 'whats your name', 'how old are you' which she has said she wouldnt expect from a child Ds's age. I am surrounded by children younger who can chat, express themselves in simple terms, have opinions and definately follow instructions like put something on,under,next to or in, none of which Ds can do. I think S&LT was annoyed at me because i wasnt jumping for joy, if anything i'm more worried now because the sole aim seems to be to sign him off asap. Am i expecting too much from Ds and are expectations so very low now. DDs are much older so expectations for them appeared to be much higher at this stage. I'm thinking of getting private assessments done for my own sanity as i'm sure the S&lt thinks i'm a pushy overbearing mum who isnt satisfied with her own child which couldnt be further from the truth. He starts school in Sept 2012 and time is flying. It took her 20 mins to get him to comply with the test, i cant see a teacher with 30 other children in her class being able to allow him this time to settle for every activity. The specialists dealing with Ds were all interested when it looked like he had ASD but now he is sociable its as though they are bored with him!! I should add, me and family never thought he had ASD. Is the 11th percentile good and am i neurotic. Can you get private assessments, because she didnt bother doing anything for his expressive language. Should i be happy with these results?
Thanks

sickofsocalledexperts

I am no friend of the system, too many who work in it have what we call Professional APD, they do not want to listen, unlike all who share my disability who have APD who not by choice are not able to listen effectively. The same can be said of many others in society who do not want to be bothered to understand the nature of our disability and ignore our communication needs.

I am also very much aware of the very poor quality of local diagnostic processes and the lack of competence of local hospital employees, clinicians is too good a description for some.

I am also very aware that all disabilities can be defined and identified by neurology, and at this point in time we do not yet have the technology to have a full understanding of all the very complex issues which can cause these disabilities. The current criteria for a diagnosis of ASD has nothing at all to do with neurology, and is dependent on the old behavior observation techniques which advances in neurology will eventually replace. If you keep up with current research you will notice that nuerology is beginning to define the underlying causes of ASD issues, shared candidate genes, and areas of activity or inactivity in the brain when reacting to various stimuli.
Currently the have identified various issues which are common between ASD ADHD and dyslexia, and they have also identified a range of issues in the Auditory Cortex related to ASD.

Most of the ASD criteria are have communication failure of some kind, which can only be neurologically based auditory, visual, or attention related sets of issues. And there already is some understanding of how to help those who only have these issues as an individual cause of disability, ASD is only a multiple mixture of these and possibly a few other issues, which neurology will identify, single out, the each of the underlying causes and provide a more scientific approach to diagnosing ASD related issues. And they are discussing possibility more subtypes of autism or autisms.

Getting the system to improve and change is my main objective, but this costs money, which neither Central Government nor Local Government are willing to pay for as it would mean raising taxes considerably to pay for the levels of training required, and the cost of the providing the services required. Currently both levels of government participate in game of blaming each other for the lack of what is needed. In reality they are frighten of the voters, you and me, not wanting to see increases in taxation.
And there are very few parents who actually take time out to join together to form a lobby group to lobby for our childrens needs, individual parents can be easily been seen and then dismissed, not so the case for large organised groups of parents campaigning for their childrens needs.

Dolfrog, when you're on a subject you clearly know a lot about your posts are amazing.

I DO understand where you are coming from, and despite your protestations I DO agree that all interventions have their limitations and that, even their good points can be badly applied by the terrible state of provision and training and knowledge, and the motivation of 'some' who see desperate parents who are disillusioned with this as a potential goldmine.

This is a very sensible warning, and you give it a lot and you are right to. You also, I can see, are very motivated to opening people's eyes to information and knowledge about latest research and developments.

The trouble with your posts often, however, is that people have come here asking what they can do about a difficult situation, and you respond with something that whilst enlightening is fundamentally inaccessible and often, immediately post-diagnosis, far too theoretical for people to get their heads round with everything else.

I'm not saying you shouldn't continue to do what you do or say what you say, you absolutely should, but please be a little bit careful about what and how you challenge people's practical suggestions and try to take account of the particular path or journey the person seeking help is on.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't continue to do what you do or say what you say, you absolutely should, but please be a little bit careful about what and how you challenge people's practical suggestions and try to take account of the particular path or journey the person seeking help is on"

This is probably true for all of us on this board.

We all have our slants/angles. Dolfrog's is very specifically related to APD and research, mine is very specifically as a professional with an interest in seeing improvements in the system and furthering my knowledge of ABA, Moondog's is about the application of precision teaching to speech and langauge therapy and practical, functional skills to a wide range of disabilities, many posters here want to educate other parents about ABA as an intervention that has brought about profound change in their children's lives when they felt abandoned and abused by the system.

This thread has had a lot of politics and a lot of people talking about their own agenda (including me!), when really it's a post by mishymashy about her son looking for answers about his current presentation. Mishymashy wanted to know about diagnosis and we have all talked about intervention, and also talked about the system and other issues etc.

When new people come to the board, it is right that they get a snapshot of all the different procedures and interventions so everyone should of course post their first reaction to the poster's question, but perhaps if it is going to become very philosophical or political, that discussion needs to be taken off-thread. Perhaps the MN faux pas "a thread about a thread" should be seen as less of a problem here and sometimes to be welcomed?

I know this was a long long time ago now but i've stumbled upon this thread after searching and searching online and it is the first time i've come accross someone who has been in a similar situation. My son is 3.7 with about a 9 month receptive/expressive language delay which was assessed over zoom but his receptive language just feels so much more behind comparing him to his older sister. He has a lot of traits you metion in your post and it concerns me although everyone seems to just dismiss it. I was just wondering how is your son doing now? Did you manage to get the help you needed?